The 15th assembly of the Armenian National Movement (ANM) took place recently at the Sessions Hall of the Government building. The assembly began with great enthusiasm (perhaps because first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan was among the participants), however things did not go as planned during the second half of the assembly and it ended sooner than scheduled which was conditioned by the death of prime minister Andranik Margaryan.
Other political party representatives were also present during the assembly, including chairman of the “Republic” political party Aram Z. Sargsyan, representative of the “Armenian Liberal Progressive Party” Edward Antinyan, representative of the “Alternative” NGO/political initiative and chairman of the “Democratic Homeland” party Petros Makeyan, former Prime Minister of Armenia Hrant Bagratyan, representative of the Fridrich Nauman fund from Germany, etc. Only 526 out of the 667 delegates were participating in the assembly. In his speech addressed to the ANM delegates, Aram Z. Sargsyan said that in his opinion, at the present, the ANM is one of the purest and strongest political parties of Armenia.
“Those opportune and impure political parties still continue to work with the authorities in different groups,” said Sargsyan.
According to Sargsyan, the Medieval Times did not just go down in history. Any period has its medieval times and today Armenians are living in the medieval times of their time. But he did recall that the Renaissance follows the Medieval Times.
Referring to the upcoming parliamentary elections, he mentioned that the elections don’t end with May 12; May 12 also marks the beginning of the process of returning power to the people. E. Antinyan and H. Bagratyan also appreciated the work completed by the party. The welcoming address of the Republican Party of Georgia was read during the assembly, after which leader of the Armenian National Movement administration Ararat Zurabyan made his speech. In his speech, Zurabyan remembered the difficult time in which the ANM came to power- war, the earthquake, the emigration of nearly 400 refugees from Azerbaijan, the closed nuclear power plant, etc. He also mentioned that during this time, Armenia declared its independence and had military achievements, Nagorno-Karabagh became an absolute side of the conflict negotiations, state institutions were formed, economic reforms were made, the energy crisis was eliminated, etc. Yerjanik Abgaryan made the next speech, but there was some kind of feeling of expectation; everyone was waiting for the first president of Armenia and in the middle of Abgaryan’s speech, in came the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan. His entrance surged an indescribable enthusiasm among the present. Mr. Abgaryan was forced to cut his speech. Those present gave Ter-Petrosyan a standing ovation, made shout-outs, some had their wrists held up high, while others held the picture of Vano Siradeghyan…The entrance of the first president truly touched many, including the journalists.
“Mr. President, we are certain that the current situation of Armenia will end one day with an entrance like this,” said leader of the Armenian National Movement administration Ararat Zurabyan. By not going against the custom of the past couple of years, the first president of Armenia refused to answer any of the journalists’ questions. After the intermission, Levon Ter-Petrosyan was out of the building, yet there were calls for him to come back during the rest of the speeches.
In his speech, vice-president of the ANM administration Aram Manukyan mentioned that the ANM is going to the elections as one to say “No” to the authorities, going for the sake of the national interests of Armenia and not against certain people. “We are going to come, we are going to go to the finish; we are going to fight until the end until we make the dream of our ancestors a reality, the dream which is now the independence acquired by the deceased men. We are going to go for the sake of their memory, for the memory of our ancestors, our children and our prosperous country,” announced A. Manukyan. Then 25 members were nominated as members of the ANM administration and an intermission was announced to return for the elections. During an interview with journalists, A. Zurabyan said that he believes that if “we see a lack of cynicism” during the upcoming parliamentary elections, then the ANM may receive 10-15% of the votes. The Armenian National Movement places high emphasis on the post-election processes. The political party is preparing to take numerous political initiatives and is not getting ready to join the “Alternative” initiative which calls on some political forces to take steps towards leaving the Republican Party, “Prosperous Armenia” and the Popular Party of Karapetich out of the pre-electoral campaign because those forces break the laws. Zurabyan does not agree with “Alternative” because according to him, the pro-government parties break the laws of the pre-electoral campaign legislation. The ANM is also going to unite the people and lead the post-electoral struggle and the party is ready to co-operate with the political forces that are aimed at forming legitimate power in Armenia.
After the intermission, A. Manukyan informed that Prime Minister of Armenia Andranik Margaryan had died from a sudden heart attack. The present paid tribute to the prime minister with a moment of silence and ended the assembly earlier than scheduled.